Volume 20, Plate VI / Ornithology (Birds)

Merlin

Falco æsalon

This beautiful little falcon resembles the Peregrine save in stature, with symmetrical proportions and brilliant plumage, the male being blackish grey above with reddish orange underparts streaked dark, measuring about eleven inches. Highly active, it gives close chase rather than stooping, breeds on rocky banks and tufts of heath in subalpine moorland, lays three to five dark reddish brown eggs, and feeds in low grounds and coast through winter.